By Roberto Martinez, Amate House Volunteer I started my role as a compañero at Taller de José two months ago, yet I still struggle with capturing the full extent of accompaniment when confronted with the question, “What do you do at your job?” Some days I provide guidance to loving parents of mentally disabled adults…
Accompaniment can take many different forms at Taller de José. Sometimes it means making phone calls, filling out forms, or listening to someone share their story. But in many cases, accompanying our clients means traveling offsite to various agencies and courts throughout the Chicagoland area. To help demonstrate what offsite accompaniment means for our staff…
October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. Domestic violence affects people in every community, regardless of age, economic status, race, religion, nationality or educational background. Domestic violence results in physical injury, psychological trauma, and sometimes death. The consequences of domestic violence can cross generations and truly last a lifetime. But those living in situations of domestic…
By Sr. Sheila O’Brien How inspiring last week was to hear Pope Francis repeatedly encourage us to minister to the least amongst us. How refreshing to have an entire week where our airwaves weren’t filled with constant messages from wealthy politicians denigrating the weakest, calling us to deport them. In Madison Square Garden, Pope Francis…
I recently had the pleasure of accompanying a client through the process of becoming a U.S. Citizen. A partner agency assisted Ricardo in preparing the paperwork at a citizenship workshop and then referred him to Taller de José for accompaniment to his citizenship test with USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Services). When I first…
By Joan Stopka Luisa came into our office seeking the repayment of an outstanding substantial debt. She had not been able to get her money for years. She had loaned the money to a gentleman to help him rehab his house. The only proof she had that the transactions had taken place was a booklet…
By Hillary Buzaid From my side of the desk, I sit facing another individual, or maybe a couple, a parent and their child, a parent and their children, parents and their children, a parent and their adult child, friends. From my side of the desk, I ask “So how can I help you today?” but…
One afternoon, while helping out at Taller de Jose’s front desk, I answered a phone call from one of our clients. While I had accompanied this particular client to previous appointments and knew her to be a friendly, outgoing and jocular individual, Raquel sounded a bit frantic on the phone. She told me that she…
By Laura Camarata, summer intern With school out and summer in full swing, the number of kids we see come in our doors with their parents has increased dramatically, enlivening our small office quite a bit. But before the end of the school year, I accompanied Claudia to court. As we made our way to…
Recently, Taller de José received a call from a partner agency, asking if we could accompany an individual from the far north side of Chicago to the far south side to offer support in the process of resolving an issue of child custody. The individual was a survivor of domestic violence and worried about returning…
